Save the Last Dance
by ohmytheon
Summary: Deku has been trying to avoid Toga all night at a school dance, but she keeps popping up. Todoroki has an idea to get her to leave him alone.


**Notes:** Yes, I used that title. I don't care. This is super cheesy and fluffy and I'm here for it. I got the prompts "Fake Dating" + "Everybody Knows/Mistaken for being a Couple" + Tododeku. The one-sided TogaDeku is very obvious. The one-sided TogaChako is more implied, along with like ten other ships. Sometimes, you've got two crushes, ya know? Todoroki saves the day and Deku is clueless and it's all adorable.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything.

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Izuku was a nervous mess by the time he found Todoroki standing by the drink table. He looked as if he'd been there the whole night, calmly sipping on a cup of punch. There was an impassive look on his face as he surveyed the gymnasium. His relaxed, unaffected mood was an instant relief, helping Izuku ease his nerves. Todoroki was always like that. There was something about the way he held himself and the calmness that radiated from him that put Izuku at ease whenever he was frantic.

When he'd agreed to come to this school dance tonight with all his friends, it had sounded like a great way to have fun. He wasn't really one for dancing and he'd actually never gone to something like this before, but Uraraka had insisted they were a blast and she'd even managed to convince Todoroki to come. He had to go if Todoroki was. It wasn't often that he did things like this, so Izuku had been excited to see him come out with them.

Instead of having fun though, Izuku had spent half the night dodging a very persistent girl.

"Oh good, there you are," Izuku sighed in relief as he rushed over to the table.

Todoroki just barely raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?"

"No!" Izuku exclaimed. "She won't leave me alone!"

There was only a hint of curiosity in Todoroki's mismatched eyes, but that was more than his usual analytical gaze. "Who?"

"Toga!" Izuku ducked behind Todoroki, hoping that he could hide in the other boy's shadow. Todoroki was taller, so using him as a shield seemed like a good idea. He held onto Todoroki's shoulders and peered over him to look out. "She's been hounding me all night for a dance and I don't want to dance with her. She keeps appearing out of thin air."

"Did you tell her that you didn't want to dance?" Todoroki asked.

Izuku frowned "I didn't want to be rude…"

"So you've just been trying to avoid her instead," Todoroki surmised. Well, when he put it that way, it was kind of dumb. Maybe if he just told her straight up that he didn't want to dance with her, she would leave him alone. She'd had an intense and very obvious crush on him for months that he had awkwardly tried to ignore in hopes that it would fade or she'd find someone else. It wasn't that she wasn't cute or anything; he just...wasn't interested. At all. And she had some weird hobbies that made him nervous.

Although, to be honest, ever since that biology class where they'd dissected frogs and she'd got a little too into it, he'd done his best to never be alone with her.

"Have you tried dancing with someone else to show her you're not interested?" Todoroki asked.

Izuku nodded. "I danced with Tsuyu and Uraraka. I think that just made her think that I wanted to dance and she had an opportunity." He didn't see her out in the crowd, but instead of relieving him, it made him feel more nervous. Where was she? What if she jumped him from behind? He whipped his head around to check, but no, she wasn't there either. "Uraraka even tried talking with her, but then Toga wanted a dance with her."

And Uraraka had done it so that he could slip away to find Todoroki. She was such a good friend. It sometimes seemed like Toga liked her as well, which Uraraka knew, but she'd taken one for the team in order to help him out. It was a weird, confusing mess that neither one of them wanted any part of, which was why he'd gone to find Todoroki. For some unknown reason, Toga didn't like him at all and scowled at him whenever he showed up.

"You could act like you're unavailable," Todoroki pointed out, turning around to face him.

"I thought of that, but I don't think she'd believe it," Izuku said.

"Why not?"

"Because, well-" Izuku blushed. "She knows that I don't like any of the girls."

Todoroki thought for a moment and then set his drink down on the table. "I'll do it then."

A light in Izuku's brain switched off as he stared at Todoroki. Had he heard him right? Had he said what he thought he'd said? Maybe he meant that he would talk to her. That made sense. Because there was no way that Todoroki was implying that he would act as his boyfriend in order to convince Toga to leave him alone for at least the night.

"Huh?" Izuku finally managed, clever as ever.

"You can use me to make her think you're unavailable," Todoroki clarified, which only made Izuku even more confused. Use him...to make her think...he was taken. No, that was what he'd said. He was offering to pretend to be his boyfriend.

Izuku's face went bright red and he frantically started to wave his hands in the air. "You don't- I mean, that's- I don't want to make you uncomfortable. You're not- Well, I don't think you are? You could be though. I've never thought to ask! Sorry, that's really rude of me to presume. I don't want you to feel embarrassed or anything! You're a private person."

"It's fine," Todoroki cut in evenly, which made Izuku's mind slam on the breaks.

Izuku chewed on his lip. "But other people might talk about it, not just her… I don't want to put you in an awkward position."

"It's only awkward if you think it is," Todoroki pointed out. "I don't particularly care what other people think of me." He paused to think as they looked at each other. "Would it make you uncomfortable to pretend to be interested in me?"

"N-no!" Izuku insisted quickly, perhaps a tad bit too quick.

Todoroki shrugged his shoulders. "I'm okay with it if you are."

"Okay."

Quite frankly, Izuku wasn't really sure how they'd gotten to this place. When he'd gone off in search of Todoroki, he'd thought that he could just hide with him. Toga typically stayed away from him, so he was the safest bet. Plus, he always made Izuku feel more comfortable, like he was safe. Despite Todoroki's reticent demeanor, the two of them were close. He'd figured Todoroki would calm him down so he could start actually having fun.

And now they were...fake dating?

Todoroki held out a hand that Izuku stared at for a solid ten seconds. "Well?"

"Well what?"

Something that looked like a faint smile appeared on Todoroki's face. It was true that he didn't smile broadly very often, but whenever he did smile, it was something to remember. His expression always turned so soft when he smiled, reaching all the way to his mismatched eyes. It was small, but it made such a powerful impact that Izuku couldn't help but stare.

"I don't think just standing here is going to make her think that you're spoken for."

"Oh." Izuku startled a little. "Oh! Right! Of course!" He looked back down. A slow song began to play, but it sounded like it was in another room when all he could focus on was Todoroki's hand. "Um, okay, yes."

The moment Izuku took Todoroki's hand, his heart leaped into his throat. He wasn't sure how they made it onto the dance floor next to Uraraka and Iida, but Izuku could barely think straight. It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, holding the other boy's hand. Maybe his palm started to sweat more and he felt entirely too warm, but it wasn't unpleasant. It was...nice. He'd held hands before, but never in this context. Whatever this context was.

"How do you want to do this?" Todoroki asked.

"Um…" Izuku glanced around at the other dancing couples surrounding them for reference. Uraraka had her hands on Iida's shoulders while his hands were on her hips. Mina was resting her head against Kirishima's chest. "I guess we just…"

He took a deep breath and went for it. Taking Todoroki's other hand, he held them both low in between them and stepped closer to him so that they were only inches apart. Todoroki was so warm or maybe it was him, but his heart was hammering wildly in his chest and he had to close his eyes to steady himself. Normally being with Todoroki was calming, but now Izuku was finding it difficult to breathe. Still, somehow they began to slowly sway to the music and he let out a shaky breath when Todoroki leaned his forehead against his.

"Is this okay?" Todoroki asked in a low voice. For some reason, it made Izuku's breath hitch. "I feel like a show of intimacy will make it more believable."

"Y-yeah, this is…" Izuku swallowed. He felt like he wouldn't have been able to step away or pull himself from Todoroki if he'd wanted to. But he didn't want to. He wanted to stay right here. "This is good."

And so they did stay like that. Maybe it wasn't the traditional way of dancing, but it was theirs. Who knew how to dance with a fake boyfriend anyways? Izuku had never danced with another boy and he wasn't sure if Todoroki had danced with anyone. He'd stood in their circle of friends and kind of moved side-to-side when everyone was dancing goofily, but that was it as far as Izuku knew. This was much more intimate, as Todoroki had said.

As the song came to an end, Izuku finally opened his eyes and pulled his head back slightly so that he could get a better look at Todoroki's face. He just wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with this. Todoroki didn't look bothered at all. In fact, as he opened his eyes, he looked, well, content.

"Deku! There you are! I've been looking all over for-"

Izuku jumped and jerked his head around to see Toga standing next to them. Instead of pulling away from Todoroki though, he gripped his hands tighter. Todoroki turned to stare at her blankly. Her face went from smiling and excited to a dark scowl before settling on a confused and dismayed look.

"I, um-" Izuku didn't know what to say, but it turned out that he didn't have to say anything at all.

"No!" Toga exclaimed, sounding utterly gutted. "Everyone told me you two were dating, but I didn't believe it! How can you be with him?"

Izuku gawked at her. Wait. What? People had told her that he and Todoroki were dating? But they'd only just started this act a few minutes ago. What was she talking about? He peered at Todoroki out of the corner of his eyes. Had...people thought they were dating? He racked his brain for anything they did together and how they interacted that might stand out. He supposed that, out of all their friends, Todoroki minded physical contact with him the least and maybe he was able to get him to smile the most and maybe they paired up a lot of the time for anything from science lab partners to sports teams.

But that didn't mean they were dating. Because the idea that Todoroki would actually want to date him instead of just pretending for one night was ridiculous. He was handsome, smart, talented, and wealthy whereas Izuku simply...wasn't. He'd been called average-looking his entire life, was admittedly a huge nerd, and certainly wasn't rich. Plus, you know, there was the whole thing where Izuku didn't even know if Todoroki, you know, swung that way.

"How long have you two been together?" Toga demanded.

 _A few minutes,_ Izuku thought.

"A few months," Uraraka said as she swung by, now in Bakugou's arms. She caught eyes with Izuku and winked before being pulled away.

"Is it serious?" Toga questioned.

"Very," Todoroki replied, squeezing Izuku's hands and pulling him closer, "so I'd appreciate it if you left him alone."

Toga narrowed her eyes. "Didn't peg you for the jealous type."

Todoroki stared back at her, completely undaunted. "I hide it well, but not tonight, I guess."

The two of them stared each other down, Toga angry and Todoroki impassive until finally she stomped away, her quarry having been taken. Izuku let out a sigh of relief. Uraraka would do well to keep finding partners and sticking with them. Whenever she was in a mood or in a rare moment where she wasn't focused on him, Toga fluttered over to her, caught between acting like they were close friends or crushing on her. It was Uraraka was her back up crush.

Indeed, somewhere in the crowd, Izuku heard a familiar bark of, "Back off, weirdo!" and he snorted. Uraraka had already danced with her once to save him. She didn't need to do it again.

"Do you want to keep dancing?" Todoroki asked.

Izuku turned to look back at him. Honestly, it was kind of hard to tell what Todoroki wanted. He hid how he felt a lot of the time. Technically, they had accomplished in making Toga think that he was not single, so the whole point of coming out here was done. They didn't need to be out here any longer. Unless Todoroki wanted to dance more. As for Izuku…

"Kind of, yeah." It was bold of him to admit, but he could be brave, especially when Todoroki was around. They'd always bolstered each other to do more and be better.

"Okay," Todoroki simply replied. But honestly? It sounded and felt like so much more and Izuku couldn't help but smile brightly. Maybe fake dating wasn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe it wasn't so fake either.


End file.
